Broody muscovy question

[Lugh]

Hi all--

I have a six month-old muscovy duck that has recently started laying eggs in the shack I had built for her and her sister when I hatched them. She's at the point where she returns to the shack every morning around 7am, just before dawn, and lays an egg (she sleeps on a platform I built in the middle of a pond behind our house). We're up to 13 eggs at this point.

Now, I know that a broody muscovy will sit on her eggs when she's done laying them, but my question is whether or not it is possible for a muscovy to lay eggs but not be broody. She just doesn't seem that interested in the eggs except in the morning when she lays another and rearranges the nest she's built. Will she get to the stage where she'll sit on them, or is it possible she'll just lay until she's done and then ignore them?

 

[av8torcrj]

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[dotporter]

Just my two cents, but if she's rearranging the nest, that's a good sign that she'll sit. While it's true that most Muscovy are great mothers, there are some which are horrible mothers for the first year and sometimes longer. But, usually it's pretty obvious that they are not natural born moms when you find eggs hidden around like Easter morn rather than laid in one place or when they get bored and just start tossing eggs out of the nest to Feng Shui the place. The ones that actually make a nest and keep the eggs IN the nest usually sit.

 

[Trent Hardy]

This might be a stupid question, but do you have a drake? I'm getting the impression that you don't and are wondering if she'll still sit on unfertized eggs? Is this right?

 

[Lugh]

There are three drakes (one is very old and doesn't breed anymore) and four ducks. I have seen this particular duck get mounted four or five times. She's laid two more eggs in there, bringing the total up to 15, and they are in a different arrangement this morning than they were last night.

The nest is well-protected against predators. It's located in a lockable shack that is part of a 7' x 6' run made of wood and hardware cloth, also with a latch. I leave the shack open and lock the run at night, then open it first thing in the morning, about an hour or so before she comes off the platform in the pond and to the shack. If she's going to sit, she has got to do it soon, right? I mean, fifteen eggs, good God!

 

[dotporter]

lol... a determined duck can lay up to thirty. NOT that I'd recommend leaving all thirty under one duck, but they can do it.